Get ready to get rowdy

Inside the Student Section

Photograph+by+Eimilie+Ford

Photograph by Eimilie Ford

Painted bodies pack the bleachers. Kids stomp their feet and scream at the top of their lungs.

Rowdy students wait after school for three hours just to watch a volleyball game or pack the stands for a tennis match. They will sit through the rain to cheer on the soccer team and they live for Friday Night Lights.

But more goes into supporting Carmel’s sports teams than just shouting “Let’s go Corsairs!”

Seniors Amanda Elert, Dom Zawartko, Drew Rapplean, Dyllan Van Erden, and Emmett Graham have been appointed by last year’s leaders as the heads of the Student Section, and they have big plans for the future. There were generous crowds for the football games, but the leaders want to show other sports some love as well.

Fun, interactive themes draw people to the games.

“If people can get involved in the themes and have a fun time doing it, they’ll come,” said Elert.

What's your favorite Student Section theme?

  • Black-to-white (45%, 19 Votes)
  • Camo (31%, 13 Votes)
  • Bright and tight (17%, 7 Votes)
  • Beach (7%, 3 Votes)

Total Voters: 42

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“We get some good turnouts for the volleyball games, but at some sports, it’s just the leaders,” said Rapplean. The leaders’ goal is to show support to every sport, not just football.

“We’re trying to promote the other sports on Twitter to let everyone know the game times and themes,” said Elert.

The leaders rev up the crowd by using posters and funny signs to catch people’s attention. Kids in the stands will hold up posters of athletes’ faces blown up to an enormous scale to try and get a laugh or two out of the crowd and the players.

Cheers and chants are a crucial part of the Section. At times, it can be tricky to get everyone involved and focused on the game. One challenge that has presented itself each year is getting everyone in sync with the cheers. “We’ve got a huge whiteboard to let everyone know what cheers we’re doing and what’s going on,” said Rapplean. Good communication will be key to make sure everyone knows exactly what’s going on.

“We want to calm everyone down because there’s a lot of people in the stands,” said Graham. The kids in the stands are talking about a million other things, but the leaders want to get everyone focused and ready to cheer.  “We’re planning on getting walkie-talkies so we can radio to each other from the top and bottom of the stands with different cheers so everyone knows what’s going on,” said Graham.

“In past years, the seniors would get mad at the underclassmen for not doing the cheers correctly,” said Rapplean. “We’re trying to make it a point to encourage them, not get angry.”

“If we get everyone to buy-in to what we’re doing, the Section is going to look and sound really cool,” said Zawartko, “if everyone does the chants it will help our teams do well.” The goal of the Student Section is to give teams the extra boost they need to put them over the edge, but still have fun doing it. Leaders say that games are supposed to be fun for everyone, and they agree that cheering for Carmel’s teams shouldn’t be a stressful experience.


 

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